A typical task assignment system algorithmically assigns tasks arriving at the task assignment center to agents available to handle those tasks. At times, the task assignment system may have agents available and waiting for assignment to tasks. At other times, the task assignment center may have tasks waiting in one or more queues for an agent to become available for assignment.
In some typical task assignment centers, tasks are assigned to agents ordered based on time of arrival, and agents receive tasks ordered based on the time when those agents became available. This strategy may be referred to as a “first-in, first-out,” “FIFO,” or “round-robin” strategy. For example, in an “L2” environment, multiple tasks are waiting in a queue for assignment to an agent. When an agent becomes available, the task at the head of the queue would be selected for assignment to the agent.
Some task assignment systems prioritize some types of tasks ahead of other types of tasks. For example, some tasks may be high-priority tasks, while other tasks are low-priority tasks. Under a FIFO strategy, high-priority tasks will be assigned ahead of low-priority tasks.
In other typical task assignment systems, a performance-based routing (PBR) strategy for prioritizing higher-performing agents for task assignment may be implemented. Under PBR, for example, the highest-performing agent among available agents receives the next available task. Other PBR and PBR-like strategies may make assignments using specific information about agents but without necessarily relying on specific information about tasks.
In some typical task assignment systems, a behavioral pairing (BP) model may be generated based on historical task-agent assignment data to optimize performance of the task assignment system. For example, in a contact center environment, the BP model may be calibrated to optimize revenue in a sales queue or to reduce average handle time in a sales or customer service queue.
In some task assignment systems, a goal for optimizing the task assignment system or a particular queue of the task assignment system may change at runtime (i.e., in real time) based on conditions in the task assignment system that can change at any moment.
In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there may be a need for a task assignment system that can adapt to changing goals at runtime.